The Florida Constitution Revision Commission, which convenes every 20 years, is moving slowly in its duties.
The CRC has the authority to add constitutional amendments on ballots for Florida voters. And if the proposed amendment receives 60 percent or more in votes, it passes.
This Monday, the CRC passed along two possible amendments out of more than 1,400 possible constitutional changes sent in from Florida citizens.
The two proposals advancing forward deal with closing write-in candidate option in state election law and an amendment that would remove the now obsolete language for a high-speed rail plan that failed.
A commissioner from Palm City asked for support of the amendment 700396 (which originated from Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg) which would put a stop to closing party primaries when a write-in candidate is on the general election ballot.
Today, all eligible voters can cast ballots in a primary if only one party has a candidate in the race. That changes if a write-in candidate as an NPA or “no-party affiliation” candidate files for the general election, closing the primary to only one party’s voters.
THe Martin County Clerk of Court submitted public amendment 700202 which would remove constitutional language for a high-speed rail system supported by voters in 2000 but died in 2004.
Both measures need 10 votes to advance and are now being referred to Constitution Revision Commission committees for further consideration. The CRC meets again on October 17. The public has until this Friday to submit any amendments they want to be reviewed and possibly put on the 2018 ballots.